Though the DCEU as it once was seems to be at an end, a bright new future seems poised to take over. James Gunn has been appointed head of DC Films and recently rolled out a plan for the new iteration of the cinematic universe. Whether Gunn’s experience at Marvel will lead to greater success than the ill-fated Zach Snyder effort, there’s a clarity to the studio for the first time in years.
Mostly. There are still old films lingering around, including this sequel to Shazam!. The first Shazam! was a surprise, taking a lesser-known property and turning it into a funny, joyous superhero film, albeit a tonally uneven one that was a tad silly. Shazam! Fury of the Gods comes along as a mostly unheralded sequel (likely due to questions about whether it will still “count” as part of the overarching DC universe). And frankly, it appeared somewhat bland from the trailers.
Indeed, it is a blander film than the first one. While casting reigning badasses Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as two angry ancient Greek deities is a neat idea, the script unfortunately makes them rather plain characters. The villains are angry about mortals having stolen their magic, and they have some occasionally interesting moral debates about whether to wipe out humanity or simply take their magic back and leave. But the characters don’t have distinct enough personalities to elevate them beyond placeholder villains.
Part of the joy of the first film was seeing Zachary Levi play a superhero that is actually a kid transformed into an adult. With that origin story behind us, none of the fun exploration of powers happens this time. Instead, we are given a story and arc that are interesting in premise; Billy Batson is worried about losing his family, now that he has one, and holds on to them super tight. This is only sort of developed throughout the film as the superhero hijinks take over.
The film has entertaining moments for sure. The final clash feels appropriately heroic, with some great visuals of lightning cracking across a dome. There’s a bit involving unicorns, of all things, that is sort of funny even as some particularly clunky product placement gets involved. One of the post-credit scenes mocks the idea of post-credit scenes in a fun way.
But Fury of the Gods lacks any real zip or pep to make it stand out. It’s fun to see it authentically capture the streets of Philadelphia, but it is besieged by some of the cheapest looking CGI in a long time. Enough script stupidity occurs that you’ll start wondering why there weren’t more rewrites. In short, it’s a film that feels like it knows it’s a waste of time. It’s far better than other franchise lame-ducks have been (looking at X-Men: Dark Phoenix here) but it’s a let-down after the promise of the first Shazam!. Levi’s continually hilarious performance is the film’s biggest redeeming factor, so hopefully he sticks around for the relaunch.
